Calling Member Services daily to check waitlist...

[letitsnow]

I was wondering if the Cast Members get mad when you call to check on your waitlist. The lady today who helped me said that if my waitlist comes through then they will contact me. But I have picked up one day here and there...just nothing connecting yet. I currently have a waitlist for VGC for 11/27-11/30 and 12/01-12/02. I called the other day and got a studio for 11/30-12/1 and 12/02-12/03. So obviously its possible to get a room and it doesn't always go to the waitlist. It sounds like the cast members are irritated when I call. Should I not call so often? I have been calling daily. I need to know if I need to cancel my reservations at HoJo before they charge me for one day.

 

[Sammie]

Why don't you check online, before you call. Yes I imagine they do get tired of it.

 

[mjc2003]

Why don't you check online, before you call. Yes I imagine they do get tired of it.

Sorry, I disagree. It's their job to check, if they are not on the phone with the OP they'd be helping somebody else. I do think it could be considered wasting their time if somebody is calling daily to check on availability just because they are bored, but if you have a legit trip that's just a short time away, why not call daily. You've already found availability by calling.

Most importantly is that there are many threads here about people calling and finding availability through MS that wasn't available online, and vice versa--people finding availability online that MS didn't see. So the system is flawed, clearly, and it's really hard to trust any one mechanism.

I had a waitlist last year for one night at BCV in November. We were switching from AKV to BCV and there was a night in between. I called every day, the waitlist that I had never came through but one of the calls (about a month before the trip) the room WAS available. It never hit my waitlist.

So you can never be sure that you are covering all your bases unless you are diligent.

 

[dvcterry]

Sorry, I disagree. It's their job to check, if they are not on the phone with the OP they'd be helping somebody else. I do think it could be considered wasting their time if somebody is calling daily to check on availability just because they are bored, but if you have a legit trip that's just a short time away, why not call daily. You've already found availability by calling.

Most importantly is that there are many threads here about people calling and finding availability through MS that wasn't available online, and vice versa--people finding availability online that MS didn't see. So the system is flawed, clearly, and it's really hard to trust any one mechanism.

I had a waitlist last year for one night at BCV in November. We were switching from AKV to BCV and there was a night in between. I called every day, the waitlist that I had never came through but one of the calls (about a month before the trip) the room WAS available. It never hit my waitlist.

So you can never be sure that you are covering all your bases unless you are diligent.

We went through the same thing when we had a waitlist at BLT. Called everyday & absolutely nothing showed online. I checked online everyday, waitlist everyday, and I called everyday. A day would show up here and there & by calling I was able to book it by calling. So diligence paid off. Op, if you want to call them, by all means call them.

 

[ccw]

I have been checking the website to add Thanksgiving night in a pool/garden view studio at BWV...no luck for past couple of weeks but I just got it! Several other nights that week also suddenly showing availability this afternoon. I was waitlisted for a different size unit but gave up and deactivated that waitlist once I booked this studio and then linked my ressies so no one will have to move. GOOD LUCK to others waiting and watching! And thanks to the poster who suggested "stalking" the website...worked for me!

 

[dvcterry]

that's great that your waitlist came through! maybe some more people will be lucky too!

 

[MSUmom]

I had 12/30 and 12/31 waitlisted for 2 bd villa at OKW. I check the website several times a day. 12/31 became available and I called and booked that. I am hoping that 12/30 comes through. I haven't called except to book but I really want that night. We are at OKW 2 nights before and now 5 nights after. Still hoping for the 30th, so if calling may help, I will be doing that too.

 

[Disney Dreams]

I was wondering if the Cast Members get mad when you call to check on your waitlist. The lady today who helped me said that if my waitlist comes through then they will contact me. But I have picked up one day here and there...just nothing connecting yet. I currently have a waitlist for VGC for 11/27-11/30 and 12/01-12/02. I called the other day and got a studio for 11/30-12/1 and 12/02-12/03. So obviously its possible to get a room and it doesn't always go to the waitlist. It sounds like the cast members are irritated when I call. Should I not call so often? I have been calling daily. I need to know if I need to cancel my reservations at HoJo before they charge me for one day.

You have a waitlist for 11/27-11/30 and for 12/01-12/02.

When you called, you picked up 11/30-12/1 and 12/02-12/03. Then you stated, "So obviously its possible to get a room and it doesn't always go to the waitlist."

The dates you picked up do not match the dates of your waitlist. For your waitlist to come through, it has to be an exact match. So it is not that "it doesn't always go to the waitlist," but moreso that there was not an exact waitlist match so it became available for you to pick up.

We needed to pick up two additional days for our recently-completed trip. I checked online every single day, several times a day. I never called member services. I guess it's just a different approach.

- Dreams

 

[lilpooh108]

I had 2 waitlists come through in the past month, even though those dates were not generally available when I checked availability myself.

Since there appears to be no rhyme or reason, I don't see why it hurts to call (except that they do get annoyed).

 

[dvcterry]

I had 2 waitlists come through in the past month, even though those dates were not generally available when I checked availability myself.

Since there appears to be no rhyme or reason, I don't see why it hurts to call (except that they do get annoyed).

you see! you must be thrilled! glad to hear that you're diligence paid off.

 

[DMKEDM]

Several years ago--prior to the restriction of two waitlists at a time, and long before online booking--I pieced together a spring break trip, booked at just 6 weeks out--by a combination of regular (two-three times each day) calls and wait listing...

By the week before our trip (when I finally completed my reservation), the CMs were in fact getting annoyed with me. And MS wound up messing up my points fairly badly, too...took quite a while to get them straightened out. AND, BCV locked us out of our villa our last night there, saying our reservation had ended (it was an add-ed on night, booked through calling, and had showed as part of the reservation when we checked in--and still showed as a reserved night on my online reservations page)...MS--all the way up to member satisfaction--tried to tell me it was "my fault" because I'd made so many calls and changes to my reservation.

However, they did admit, while they were trying to blame me as we were fixing the situation (and they did fix it--both points and the room), that had I not made those calls, I would not have gotten my 6 nights in a BCV one-BR over spring break.

So, by me, MS has no call to be annoyed. But they're human and they get annoyed, too. But their annoyance (or action to avoid their annoyance) doesn't get me the booking I "needed" and so I just sucked it up and put up with their annoyance.

The experienced "tarnished" the magic for me, for sure. And I've never forgotten it. It will no doubt be one of the several reasons I stop going to Disney, if it ever "piles up" to the point where I do stop going to Disney. (So far, I still go...and I've had pretty much nothing but "normal" experiences (and one weather-related "crisis" about which MS in combination with CRO was REALLY nice) since.

My "take:" You have an absolute right to call as often as you can/need to to make what you need to happen happen. And "so what" if MS gets annoyed. It's too bad. It's totally non-Disney. As another poster said, it's not like the CMs are doing "extra" work as a result of the calls. They'd be checking availability and booking for other people if they weren't helping you. And until/unless Disney changes its rules (again!) to restrict the number of calls you make, or changes you can make to your reservation, you're totally within not only your "rights," but also the confines of what you sometimes need to do to maximize your chances for a difficult-to-get reservation!

Good luck with getting your last night...

 

[CruznLexi]

I was looking for 2 full nights at the same resort and could only get 1 at KV and 1 at AK so would have to move I looked at the DVC site every am and called and snagged my room!

 

[dvcterry]

Several years ago--prior to the restriction of two waitlists at a time, and long before online booking--I pieced together a spring break trip, booked at just 6 weeks out--by a combination of regular (two-three times each day) calls and wait listing...

By the week before our trip (when I finally completed my reservation), the CMs were in fact getting annoyed with me. And MS wound up messing up my points fairly badly, too...took quite a while to get them straightened out. AND, BCV locked us out of our villa our last night there, saying our reservation had ended (it was an add-ed on night, booked through calling, and had showed as part of the reservation when we checked in--and still showed as a reserved night on my online reservations page)...MS--all the way up to member satisfaction--tried to tell me it was "my fault" because I'd made so many calls and changes to my reservation.

However, they did admit, while they were trying to blame me as we were fixing the situation (and they did fix it--both points and the room), that had I not made those calls, I would not have gotten my 6 nights in a BCV one-BR over spring break.

that's quite an experience. sorry to hear that you went through such an ordeal. we likewise pieced together a reservation after having to cancel AKV for another reservation a month later. it was a day by day process of calling and checking but we did get BLT. i never found the cm's to be upset, actually very helpful and understanding and our biggest fear was being locked out of our room. when we checked in at BLT we indicated this and they confirmed our very last night of check out would be the very last night of our reservation and that was what we signed on our form as well. i am really sorry to hear that though.

 

[DMKEDM]

Thanks for the sympathy--I appreciate it. But it's water under the bridge now. I've since had one "above and beyond" experience with CRO working with MS to save my points when "Snowmageddon" here on the East Coast massively disrupted our vacation (at 4 in the afternoon the airlines confirmed our flight out the next morning--two days after the 30+ inches of snow had fallen; flight was at 8 the next morning...at 10 p.m. that night they canceled the flight)...

Yes, I could have had travel insurance--and had I lost my points I might have felt badly about not having it...but $5/point reimbursement for the points lost, while better than nothing, would not have replaced my cratered vacation, so I still don't feel like I want travel insurance...

Anyway, I digress...MS, of course, was closed by the time the airlines canceled...but CRO got it all worked out and were incredibly nice to me (and I imagine literally thousands of others who either couldn't get there or couldn't get home from there)...my points did go into holding, but I didn't lose them...and I wound up able to use them a couple of months later...definitely a happy ending to a blizzard-wrecked vacation!

So I have one "extraordinarily good" tale to offset the unpleasantness of that spring break trip (which was a GREAT trip, by the way, despite the couple of hours it took to get back into our villa that last afternoon)...the freakiest part of the situation was not that it happened--I do get that people are human and mistakes happen--all I can really ask is that people do their best to fix things when mistakes happen. The worst of it was that Member Satisfaction (who got called in by the CMs as we tried to sort out my points--and it WAS complicated as I had made a number of changes in piecing together my reservation) decided the whole mess was my fault and that they really shouldn't "have to" fix things...but, they did and while it took a week or more to sort out my points, and a couple of hours to get our villa back (and part of that wasn't the reservation problem, but a lock on the door that "decided" to break down at the same time), it all worked out in the end.

But I don't think much of the Member Satisfaction folks. And I don't "love" Disney as much as I used to (altho I still love it a lot)...their "feet of clay" showed big-time during that episode!

 

[dvcterry]

Oh no! You poor thing. We are about to add the insurance on and after reading your post and others, you just never know. But the broken lock! That is one for the books. It just had to be your last day of course.

 

[letitsnow]

So I got my wait list for Sat 12/1 at VGC...BUT...I never received an email that my wait list was match...it just so happened that I forgot my phone at home and was thinking about how I can purchase the2 extra points so if my waitlist did come through I would have enough points and not passed over. The CM informs me that my waitlist came through!!! She then completed the reservation. I check my emails like10x now and I still don't see anything about my waitlist!!!!! I wonder how many times I missed out..

So I say if you have a waitlist call call call!

 

[DMKEDM]

You can also check "vacation details" on the dvc member website...I'm thinking they don't email anymore when a W/L clears...they just update your vacation details site...

You can call, of course...but might be easier to look on your vacation details for updates...